And here’s a link to the Birds of Hell video to the gorgeous song Astronomy Programmes – a fantastical swoon of a tune with great dreamy backing vocals…
Birds of Hell Live (with The Neutrinos and Ross Sutherland) Saturday 21st May Norwich Arts Centre 8.30pm – tickets here
Birds of Hell Pete Murdoch Starman Strategies Songmaking workshop Saturday 21st May Norwich Arts Centre 3pm tickets here
One of the very best songwriters around at the moment, Pete Murdoch (a.k.a.Birds of Hell) has been picking up a lot of plaudits recently for his extraordinary, eerily atmospheric and eclectic tales of Clint Eastwood, being eaten by snakes and dogging. Abetted by Iain Lowery, Carl Cole, Alan Southgate and some dead relatives too, the previous single Boa reached #11 in the UK vinyl chart. His new single Astronomy Programmes is receiving lots of attention from BBC6 Music, Radio 1 etc.
Birds of Hell will be performing as part of Vocal Invention on Saturday 21st May in a concert which also features The Neutrinos and Ross Sutherland.
Tickets for that concert here
Also a highly-experienced workshop leader, Pete will be running a session from 3pm called ‘Starman Strategies’ In this fun and hands-on workshop he will explore some of the creative methods of David Bowie.’Cut up’ lyric writing, graphic scores, subverting instruments, writing in character, Eno’s Oblique Strategies – all of these approaches will be used collaboratively creating, playing and singing ‘our own song’. There may well be a bit of Philly Soul, Kraftwerk or drum and bass or make a glam rock monster! Bring your voices and if you like, your own instruments. Some instruments and amplification will be provided.
Workshop tickets here
Brief biography
Pete Murdoch’s music can broadly be divided into two categories: music for kids and music for adults. He’s about to release an album of kid’s music ‘that grown-ups won’t hate’ under the name of Henhouse (think ska version of 5 Little Monkeys sung by Ray Winston). And for the adults there is Birds of Hell where, using guitar, vocoder and tape recordings of dead relatives, he renders songs on subjects ranging from his family to being eaten by snakes and Clint Eastwood. Pete is a former member of Norwich favourites Sargasso Trio who enjoyed numerous sessions for BBC 6Music as well releasing records in Japan, America and Europe. He is also an experienced music tutor delivering workshops for over 10 years with children and adults.
Orlando Gough has set to music (very beautifully) the words of Robert Fludd from 1617 – ‘et sic in infinitum’ In the book Fludd talks about how the universe came into being:
‘What was there before creation? Some first state of unformed matter, without dimension or quantity, neither small nor large, without properties or inclinations, neither moving nor still.’
And this is illustrated by an astonishing illustration which looks like something by an American abstract artist of the 1960s:
He then goes on about the Earth being at the centre of the universe (Copernicus has already come up with the heliocentric model, but Fludd doesn’t agree):
‘The earth is cold and dry; and as the darkest and heaviest element it sinks, as it were, to the centre of the universe. No wonder that the earth is such a vale of misery, since it is formed from the very dregs of creation. It contains the devil himself, enemy to God and man.’
The cliché is that people used to think of the Earth as the centre of the universe so that they themselves are at the centre, how reassuring; but he seems to be saying that the centre is basically a cesspit.
And he goes on into a refutation of Copernicus:
‘If the Earth were not the centre of the Universe, but a revolving body circling the Sun, as some ancient and modern philosophers maintain (notably Copernicus and William Gilbert), there would be no possibility of life on it: violent winds would sweep everything to the ground. Besides, it would be remarkable if the Earth alone were to move steadily on its axis, while all the other planets varied in latitude. Finally, as the Earth is the largest and densest of all bodies it stands to reason that it would be at the centre of the more rarified ones, and less apt to move than any of the others. The source of all power and movement is at the periphery of the universe, not in the centre – for…a wheel is more easily turned from its circumference than from its hub.’
In collaboration with Norfolk Archaeology Trust, The Voice Project is returning to St Benet’s Abbey in June 2014 to mark the culmination of the two-year Conservation, Access and Community project in June 2014 – and you can join in!
Local singers are invited to take part in two performances of the piece, at 8.00pm on Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 June 2014, staged in the extraordinary landscape of the Broads and the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey. You don’t have to be able to read music as everything is taught by ear, and The Voice Project has recordings of all the music for you to download.
If you’d like to find out more, and are available for the performance dates in June, please come along to the free taster session on Sat 25th January 2014 2.00-4.00pm at Ludham Village Hall. Free but booking essential: info@stbenetsabbey.org
St Benet’s Abbey, Ideas of Flight, The Voice Project, Norfolk & Norwich Festival May 2013 (JMA Photography)
Happy New Year to all from the Voice Project. And here’s how you can get involved in our singing activities in 2014. No previous experience necessary.
New January courses: Men’s Voices, Singing from Scratch, Tuning In and of course recruitment for the taster session to sing in the Voice Project Choir all happening here No experience needed. To book a place – info@voiceproject.co.uk
This Saturday at Norwich Cathedral – two evocative, seasonal shows (7 & 9pm) with The Voice Project Choir and Human Music. Songs by Helen Chadwick, Karen Wimhurst, Meredith Monk and Jonathan Baker. Words by Tennyson, Andrew McDonnell, Kathleen Raine, Maura Dooley and Agnes Lehoczky. Tickets from Norwich Arts Centre for the 7pm performance and the 9pm performance and from the Cathedral Shop – 01603 218450
The Voice Project at Norwich Cathedral (photo by Phil Sayer)
